Tag Archives: milestone

Under ‘normal’ circumstances (whatever that may be), in my 17 months career so far as a Mum, I’d have noted and celebrated Samuel’s milestones. When he said his first word and what it was, the first time he laughed, when he started to roll over, crawl, walk, when we started getting him onto solids and so on.

But these are milestones that we have never reached and may never do. But I think Samuel has reached milestones that beat all these.

Milestone 1 – Coming home from NICU. We were warned that it might never happen. We might never be able to take him home because we’d either lose him to his seizures or he’d be so heavily sedated, he’d have to stay in hospital indefinitely.

Milestone 2 – First birthday. Something we felt we could only dream of reaching. And we did and had a fantastic family birthday party.

Milestone 3 – Christmas. Samuel spent his first Christmas in hospital, but he spent his second at home with us and it was absolutely wonderful.

Milestone 4 – Our one year anniversary of being home from NICU.

Milestone 5 – Beating the genetics prognosis. Last April (2011), we were told that it was very likely that we would only have Samuel for months. His condition would deteriorate and finally beat him. Beat us. That was a year ago and look at him now. His neurologist has said herself how impressed she is with how well he is doing. Since we’ve been home from NICU we have only had one emergency admission. I think this is the ultimate milestone and Samuel has reached it with bells on.

My brave little solder. Still here, still fighting, still gorgeous.

Team Sam. x

This post is part of the Celebrate Blogging Challenge.This world of special needs and disabilities has many rocky roads, we will find ourselves on many rollercoasters along the way. But, there are a lot of positives. Through our adventures so far, we have met a lot of amazing, supportive people. It has made us stronger. We have learned to look at the world through new, wider eyes and find ourselves celebrating what to others may seem such a small achievement but to us, it’s the world. It’s a tough world, but there is so much to celebrate. Our children. So please join me each week and post about what there is to celebrate in your world during the past week. I’m looking forward to reading your posts and celebrating with you.

Recent ramblings

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

NICU – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Sam spent 8 weeks there)
MIDAZOLAM – Samuel’s emergency medicine
JULIA’S HOUSE – Hospice which provides respite and play therapy (and lots of cuddles for Sam)
KETOGENIC DIET – Special diet which can help epilepsy
GASTROSTOMY – This is a button put into the stomach and all feeds and medicines can be given through it
CHLORAL HYDRATE – Medicine Samuel has at bedtime to help him sleep
SATURATION MONITOR (SATS MONITOR) – Used to monitor heart rate and oxygen in the blood
NASOGASTRIC TUBE (NG TUBE) – Tube that goes into the nose and down the throat and feeds and medicines can be given through it